Colin Butts (11 September 1959 – 28 June 2018) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

novelist, screenwriter and Ibiza nightclub impresario. Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England, he moved to

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

in the 1980s, following employment there in the tourism sector. His life in Ibiza was the inspiration for his literary work.

Life

Ibiza

Butts first visited Ibiza on holiday in 1983. His first job there was as a holiday rep in 1986. He managed the Gala Nights open-air club, now commonly known as The Zoo Project, before opening his first business, the Plastik record shop in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

West End. The business evolved into the Plastik Party Bar and Club, now situated on Avenue Doctor Fleming in

Death

Colin Butts died in London in June 2018 having been battling pancreatic cancer.

Published works

* ''Is Harry on the Boat'' (1997) Butts founded ''Tuesday Morning Publishing'' to publish his own novel ''

Is Harry On the Boat? ''Is Harry on the Boat?'' Is a 2001 British made-for-TV film, based on the lives of holiday reps in Ibiza. A television drama series then followed, airing on Sky One from 2002 to 2003. Background It is based on the book of the same name by C ...

'' in 1997, and sold 20,000 copies from his garage. It was then taken on by Orion Publishing in 2000, with a second edition in 2001. The book went on to make six-figure sales and be developed as a film and television series. *''Is Harry Still on the Boat'' (2003) This sequel to ''Is Harry on the Boat'' was published by Orion in 2003. *''A Bus Could Run You Over'' (2004) Butts's third novel, drew upon his experiences working as a holiday rep in Ibiza. It was published by Orion in January 2004 in hardback and paperback formats. Orion published a second paperback print in July 2004,.

Television and film

Colin then changed his focus to script-writing, being in part mentored by

Paul Abbott Paul Abbott (born 22 February 1960) is an English television screenwriter and producer. Abbott has become one of the most critically and commercially successful television writers working in Britain, following his work on popular series such as ...

and beginning by writing six episodes for the final series of

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

's football-based drama:

Dream Team Dream Team may refer to: Sport Basketball * Dream Team, the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team in Barcelona * Dream Team II, the 1994 U.S. men's national basketball team at the FIBA World Championship * Dream Team III, the 1996 ...

. His first book, ''Is Harry on the Boat'', was adapted for film with

Danny Dyer Danial John Dyer (born 24 July 1977) is an English actor and presenter. Dyer's breakthrough role was as Moff in ''Human Traffic'', with other notable roles as Mick Carter in EastEnders, Billy the Limpet in '' Mean Machine'' and as Tommy Johns ...

in his first lead role. The project was facilitated by the introduction of then 15-year-old

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings publi ...

, who was working for Butts at his Plastik venue in Ibiza. Allen read the book and showed it to her mother, the film producer Alison Owen of Ruby Films. After the film release, Owen developed a TV series from the book, through her Rapido TV company. This was first screened on

in 2002/3.

White Island

By 2011, Colin had completed a screenplay based upon his third novel, ''A Bus Could Run you Over''. The script was taken up by

Fulwell 73 Fulwell 73 is a British television, film and music production company based in London. It was founded in 2005 by brothers Gabe and Ben Turner, Leo Pearlman, and Ben Winston. James Corden became the fifth full time partner in January 2017. Ful ...

Productions and released as the film ''White Island'' in 2016. Filming took place in both the UK and Ibiza, and the film was made for a reported £1,500,000 budget. The cast includes

Lyndon Ogbourne Lyndon Saul Ogbourne (born 18 May 1983) is an English actor. He is known for his role as Nathan Wylde in the ITV1 soap opera ''Emmerdale''. Background Ogbourne began acting at the age of six. He was educated at Commonweal School before studyin ...

Billy Zane William George Zane Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor. His breakthrough role was in the 1989 Australian film ''Dead Calm'', a performance that earned him a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promi ...

, Billy Boyd,

Darren Day Darren Day is an English actor, singer and television presenter, well known for his West End theatre starring roles. Early life Day's paternal grandfather was a support act to George Formby in the days of music hall. Day undertook drama classe ...

, with a cameo by DJ

Carl Cox Carl Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, as well as radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Hove, Sussex, England. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has performed at numerous clubs and ele ...

, playing himself.

References

External links

Bio at publisher Orion books
*
Plastik Bar websiteColin Butts Interview
*https://web.archive.org/web/20050827201327/http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/MP-27935/Is-Harry-Still-on-the-Boat?.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Butts, Colin 1959 births 2018 deaths English short story writers People from Ibiza